Ways to Remember Your Baby’s 1st Birthday

Your child’s 1st birthday is a special and momentous occasion. It marks their transition from baby to toddler and brings with it the excitement of new milestones. It’s an thrilling time that you’ll look back on for years to come. So what’s the best way to remember your baby’s 1st birthday?

Last month Rory turned one. Like most parents I spent the weeks running up to his big day scouring Pinterest for inspiration. My birthday board is now overflowing with creative ideas, imaginative decorations and elaborate cakes. With my theme chosen, I had grand plans to create the birthday of every toddlers dreams. As it turns out the odds were not in my favour.

A week before Rory’s birthday I took a tumble UP the stairs leaving me with a metacarpal fracture (aka a broken hand) and a rather awkward pot. Thankfully my family and friends stepped in without hesitation to save the day. We celebrated his day in style and his party went off without a hitch! I took some fantastic photo’s and everyone had a great time but looking back I wish I’d organised more birthday keepsakes. Things for me to look back on in years to come and remember the special day. Although we managed to fit some in we didn’t get round to doing them all.

Here’s a few suggestions to remember your baby’s 1st birthday:

A Time CapsuleThis is one that we did at Rory’s party. All the guests wrote a message on a card and popped it in an envelope. On his 21st birthday I’ll give him the cards to open. It’s something which I would have loved to open on my 21st birthday. I’m not sure if Rory will reciprocate my feelings but if not I’m sure 46 year old me will enjoy opening them!!!

Salt Dough Hand and Foot PrintsI originally planned to do these at Christmas. I then put them off until my last month of maternity leave. Now months after pinning the original idea I’ve finally found the time to do them and I’ll be honest, they’re disappointing! Having pushed my patience to it’s limit there’s no way I’m repeating the ordeal again anytime soon. Who knew it was so difficult to imprint a child’s hand without them rubbing salt dough in their eyes!

Take a picture after they fall asleep then do it every yearSomething which I completely forgot to do! Never mind.

Write a letter to your childI decided to write a letter to Rory the day before his birthday as it’s Valentines day – A Valentine’s Letter to my Baby boy. It felt fitting considering the previous year I had spent the day in labour. It’s a tradition which I plan to continue each year.

A cake smash photo shootIt’s very on trend at the moment to dress your child up in a silly hat, plonk them down in front of a cake and take cutesy pictures of them basking in the sugary goodness. The reality, from what I’ve seen, isn’t what you would expect. Recently lots of cake smash disasters have been doing the rounds on Instagram some of which are pretty hilarious! I was planning to shoot our very own cake smash however considering I have all on trying to get Rory touch a mini roll I didn’t fancy wasting my time.

@xtinemargaret

@lopezzzmarimar

@onelittleharper

@minimelinagrace #melinagrace

Sign a wooden initial letterThis one is a good idea if you’re having a birthday party. I bought a white letter ‘R’ from Ebay with the aim of getting everyone who came to Rory’s party to sign it before they left. I thought it would be nice to hang in his bedroom. Again the intention was there but on the day I was just too busy. I completely forgot to put the letter out so now we just have a giant letter R lurking around the house! Saying that I have to admit it made a pretty good prop for this birthday photo shoot.

A picture with them holding a balloonI really love this idea unfortunately it’s one we never got round to doing. Each year you take a picture of them holding a balloon but you add a balloon for every year of their age. I think the pictures would look really great in a collage frame, although I do wonder how long you could keep up the tradition before they refuse to co-operate?

Birthday photo shootI may have decided against the cake smash however I had to find some justification for sticking Rory in the most ridiculous outfit I could find. What better excuse than a birthday photo shoot. None of the cake smash clean up but the same amount of embarrassing pictures which I can pull out when his girlfriend comes for tea!

What plans do you have for your babies first birthday? Fancy giving any of these a try or have you come up with your own ways to remember the special occasion?

*A special thank you to my cake smash fail contributors! Please head across to Insta and show them some love *

With my first i had great plans and even managed a few of these suggestions! With my second i cant be bothered! 😂 i really want to make sure i have things to look back on thugh because i know il regret it if not! I love the cake smash idea! #DreamTeam

These are all such lovely ideas! My son is 3 on Monday and so far I’ve written a letter to him every year, but this makes me wish I’d been more organised and sorted out things like a time capsule, and photos of him holding a balloon every year. I guess it’s never too late to start though! Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLoveKaty – Hot Pink Wellingtons recently posted…#SharingtheBlogLove #39

These are BRILLIANT ideas. Love the Time Capsule! Will prob do it for another momentous birthday, or then for #2!!!
#ablogginggoodtimeNicole – Tales from Mamaville recently posted…The Anatomy of a Toddler

Gorgeous ideas! I love the sleepy photo one and wish I’d thought of that! I have however written each of mine a poem for their birthdays each year. (No surprise there really eh?) My cousin’s baby is one in a couple of weeks and were talking about things she could do. I’m sending her the link to your post! xRhyming with Wine recently posted…The Changing Room Incident…

this is fabulous! I have decided to write Ben a letter and love the idea of a home made photo session rather than pay for a cake smash!
i love the idea of a photo every year when they’re sleeping! #marvmondays

I’ve got two weeks until my baby’s first birthday. I am so excited to get messy with a smash cake. I’d also like to do a “cleaner” photoshoot and grabbing a wooden initial letter for it is a great idea! I did the hand and footprint 6 months ago and I did it while he was sleeping, so that helped. It is quite difficult to do though! #stayclassymama

These are great ideas. I wish I had read this before Peachy’s first birthday in December. We do the handprint on Mother’s Day. I bought this set called “The Tower of Time”. It’s five tins that stack together and each contains a print. You do one each year. We’re in Canada and Mother’s Day hasn’t come around this year yet. We did a hand print last year but Peachy was little then and we managed to do it while she was sleeping. I wonder how successful we’ll be this year. #BloggerClubUK

These are beautiful ideas, and I a time capsule is a lovely one. I love the idea of letters and cards being opened on their 21st birthday, I think that come 20 years opening these would be like going back in time. Claire x #bigpinklinkThe Pramshed recently posted…You, at 20 months

Love these ideas! I do the photo with the balloon and love the photos I have. Since having my blog I’ve written the girls letters, something that I will always be grateful my blog has brought me. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLoveLaura – Dear Bear and Beany recently posted…Living Arrows 15/52 {2017}

This is fantastic! I was no where near that organised when Leo was little. We had a lovely festival type party, all of us sitting on a mat in a garden with homemade cakes. I love the idea of a time capsule, I wish I had done that. The cake smash cakes are so cool…I want a photo of me eating one for my birthday! Sorry about your hand. Thank you for linking to #stayclassymama xx

Oh I love this post – we are approaching Emma’s 2nd birthday and it’s great to have ideas for her birthday. Love the idea of a time capsule and also never managed to do a handprint/footprint for her…brilliant food for thought! Thanks for linking up to #dreamteam xBridie By The Sea recently posted…#DreamTeam 5-0

I totally love these ideas and will definitely.be.using most of them as our baby girl turns 1 September 5th. Thanks for this. Any suggestions besides a smash cake or photo shoot. I’m so.doing the time capsule.

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About MommyandRory

I'm Becky. A twenty something first time mommy living in Yorkshire with my partner Ryan and our little boy Rory.
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